Alberta’s police watchdog is investigating after Mounties fired their weapons during a confrontation with a man involved in a police chase on a highway near Hardisty, Alta.
Officers discharged their weapons around 5:20 p.m. Sunday as officers attempted to arrest a suspect driver, RCMP said in a news release.
RCMP had been chasing a suspicious vehicle on Highway 13 near Hardisty, about 200 kilometres southeast of Edmonton.
“The vehicle was believed to be the same vehicle involved in an earlier incident with the Killam RCMP,” police said in a statement.
Several tire deflation devices were used in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The vehicle went into the ditch and a man got out.
“A confrontation occurred that resulted in RCMP officers discharging their service weapons,” RCMP said.
The man was taken to an Edmonton hospital in serious condition. No officers were injured.
ASIRT has been directed to investigate an <a href=”https://twitter.com/RCMPAlberta?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@RCMPAlberta</a> officer-involved shooting that took place this evening near Hardisty, and resulted in serious injury to one man. Details to follow.
—@ASIRT_AB
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has been asked to investigate.
RCMP members from Killam, Provost and Wainwright along with the Eastern Alberta District Crime Reduction Unit were all involved in the attempted arrest.
Earlier in the day, police in central Alberta had been asking for the public’s help to locate a Dodge Ram pickup involved in ramming an RCMP vehicle.
After receiving a complaint early Sunday about suspicious vehicles in the hamlet of Galahad, Alta., Killam RCMP officers began patrolling the area, according to a news release. At about 3:30 a.m., police came across the truck at Township Road 410 and Range Road 125.
The officers tried to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver of the suspect truck fled. Police relocated the Dodge, and tried to stop it, but the driver of the truck rammed the police vehicle twice, police said.
RCMP would not confirm if the Dodge Ram was the same vehicle involved in the shooting. ASIRT officials were unavailable for comment.